Sorting machine



July 9, 1946. E. J. RABENDA ET AL 2,403,550

SORTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 24, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet l I P I 2% &

\t \J I O rill/11111110 ATTORNEY July 9, 1946. E. J. RABENDA ET AL 2,403,550

SOR'I'ING MACHINE Flea.

I ZTORS A TTORNE Y Patented July 9, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SORTING MACHINE Application December 24, 1942, Serial No. 469,982

Business Machines 4 Claims.

This invention relates to card sorting machmes and more particularly machines for sorting well known perforated record cards known as Hollerith cards.

The principal object of the invention is to provide improved protection devices responsive to stop the machine in the event of any irregularity in the feeding of the cards to thereby prevent so-called jamming and consequent damage to the delicate parts of the apparatus.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed. out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a central section through the essential operating devices of a well known form of sorting machine.

Fig. 2 is a wiring diagram of the electrical circults of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a timing diagram of certain cam controlled contracts utilized in carrying out the objects of the invention.

The type of sorting machine to which the invention has been applied is that of Patent 1,741,985 to E. A. Ford dated December 31, 1929, and a brief explanation will first be given to set forth the manner of operation of such machine. Record cards generally designated 10 (Fig. 1) are placed in magazine H, from the bottom of which reciprocating picker mechanism !2 advances the lowermost card through a throat ii! to a pair of feed rollers 14 which advance the card past the sorting brush l5. As the card passes the brush, electrical connection is made through a perforation therein with the common contact roller l6 which completes a circuit to the sorting magnet IT. The action of the sorting magnet will draw downwardly on its armature l8. Lying on top of the armature are the ends I9 of a group of sorting blades of different lengths as indicated, which run back to the ditl'erent sorting pockets 2!), two of which are shown in Fig. 1.

The spaces between the blades form passages which extend back to the several pockets, so that a card entering into any passage will be conveyed by the guide rollers Z! to the appropriate pocket. Selection of the particular passageway is controlled by the record card Ill and is determined by its position with respect to brush l5, at the time when the circuit through a perforation is completed to energize magnet H. To

illustrate, if a circuit is completed through a perforation at the time card I?! is in the position shown in Fig. l, armature I8 is drawn downwardly and the blades I9 to the left of the leading edge of the card will drop down with the armature, while the remaining blades are held up by the record card itself, so that continued movement of the record card will cause it to enter the passage thus opened by the relative movement of the blades Hi.

This briefly describes the operation of the wellknown sorting mechanism, and the record cards usually fed through the machine have a thickn s of about .007 of an inch. For particular kin is of accounting, a card of about .021 of an inch in. thickness is employed and such card has greater rigidity than the usual tabulating cards.

A special device has been provided in the machine which is in the form of a lever 22 pivoted at 23, whose lower end normally lies slightly above the record cards as they pass through the machine. This lever is rocked counterclockwise by solenoid 24 against the action of spring whenever a record card is fed into the first sorting pocket 25, which is known as the reject" pocket. It will be noted that a card is directed into the reject pocket when no perforation is sensed by the brush l5, so that the card passes beneath all of the blades l9 and is deflected into this first pocket. The point at which deflection occurs is at the first pair of feed rollers 2|, and with the thicker card of greater rigidity the tendency of the card is to remain fiat so that the trailing end thereof bears upwardly against one or more of the blades 19, which is undesirable as this would open an erroneous passage for the next following record card.

Accordingly, through a circuit arrangement which will presently be explained, the solenoid is energized whenever it is determined that the card passing the brush I5 is to go to the reject pocket. This Will rock lever 22 counterclockwise about its pivot 23 and cause the lower end of the lever to bear down on the card until it has passed the extremity of the lever. The effect of this is to hold the trailing edge of the card in a horizontal plane and prevent lifting of such end as the iorward end of the is deflected downwardly into the reject pocket 25.

At the right end of Fig. l is shown a shaft 26 suitably geared to the main shaft of the machine and upon which several contact operating cams are mounted and timed to make one revolution for each card fed through the machine. The contacts controlled by these cams are shown in the diagram (Fig. 2) and their time of operation with respect to a card feeding cycle is shown in Fig. 3.

Referring to Fig. 2, current is supplied to left side of the line 39 and right side of the line 3!. Closure of the usual start key contacts 32 completes a circuit from line 30, contacts 32, start relay Rl, relays R2 and R3 in parallel to line 3|. Relays R2 and R3 close their contacts R211 and R302, respectively, to complete a circuit through the driving motor M of the machine. This motor in the usual way operates the picker mechanism and the card feed rollers, so that a card is advanced from the stacker I i. As the card advances toward brush l5, the usual card lever contacts 33 are closed so that a holding circuit is completed from line 30, card lever contacts 33, the full pocket contacts 34, stop key contacts 35, normally closed pair of contacts C1, contacts Rid of relay RI, relays R2 and R3 to line 3!. Through this holding circuit motor M is maintained in operation after the start key contacts 32 are permitted to reopen.

The contacts C1 are timed to open once during each cycle of the machine after a card has been sensed and before the next card arrives at the brush, that is, during the interval the space between adjacent edges of two cards is in line with the sorting brush. This opening of contacts C1 would break the holding circuit and stop operation of the machine. Provision is made, however, for closing a shunt circuit around these contacts through contacts R la of a relay R4, which is energized through the following circuit completed by cam contacts C3 and C which, as shown in Fig. 3, close just before contacts C1 and open again after contacts C1 have reclosed. This circuit is traceable in Fig. 2 from line 35, contacts C3, contact roller l6, sorting brush (there being no card insulating brush 15 from roller l5 at this time), contacts C5, relay R4 to line 3|. If for any reason a record card has become misaligned-that is, retarded so that at the time contactsCl open the brush I5 is separated from the contact roller it by the record card material, relay R4 will not be energized so that the motor control circuit is broken, and the machine will stop immediately.

The arrangement just explained is commonly known as a non-jamming device and is provided to stop the machine at the earliest possible time, especially where the thicker and more rigid cards are used, to prevent injury to the delicate sorting blades of the apparatus.

The normal sorting circuit is traceable from line 30 to the usual commutator brush 35, the commutator 31, brush 38, cam contacts G4, which are closed while the card is traversing the brush i5, contact roller l5, perforation in the record card, brush !5, contacts C5 (whose timing is the same as that of contacts C4) (see Fig. 3), brush relay R5, a so-called delay control relay R6, sorting magnet 11 to line 3|. Through this circuit the sorting magnet I1 is energized at the time a perforation is sensed to select the proper passage of the record card. The usual holding circuit isv provided to maintain the magnet 11 energized for a period of time, which circuit is traceable from line 30, brush 39 of the holding commutator 40, brush 4|, contacts R5a, relay R5, relay R6, magnet H to line 3|. Whenever a perforation occurs in a card passing brush I5, these circuits are completed and contacts R6a are opened as a result. When the sorting circuit is not completed, that is, when no perforation is sensed, the card is to go to the reject pocket and under such circumstances the solenoid 24 is to be energized to hold the trailing edge of the card in its horizontal position as the card passes to the pocket.

To bring this about, cam contacts Ci are provided which are timed to close a short period after all perforation positions of the card have passed the brush l5 and, if contacts Riia have not been opened, a circuit will be completed from lin 30, contacts Cl, contacts RSa, relay R1, solenoid 24 to line 3|. Relay R1 closes its contacts R1a to complete a holdin circuit from line 351, cam contacts C2, contacts R'l'a, relay R1, solenoid 24, to line 3%. As seen from Fig. 3, this holding circuit is held through the remainder of the cycle and well into the next following cycle.

It is thus seen that the deflecting solenoid 24 is brought into action only when the card is to be rejected or fed into the nearest pocket. It is seen also that the sorting brush I5 is provided with a double function, one function being that of controlling the sorting magnet 11 to select a sorting pocket for the card, while the latter is passing the brush and the other being to serve as a detecting device during the interval between cards so as to interrupt the continued operation of the machine if a card is at the brushes at this detecting or testing time.

The card distributing system and the special controls therefor to operate the solenoid 24 are not claimed herein but are claimed in a divisional application Serial No. 504,386, now Patent No. 2,350,531, granted June 6, 1944.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cyclically operable record card sorting machine, a record card sensing device, sorting means, means for feeding record cards past said device in spaced succession. one card being fed for each cycle of operation of the machine, said sensing device being effective during the passing of cards thereby for controlling said sorting means, an operating control circuit for the machine,

means timed to cyclically open said circuit after each card has passed said sensing device and before the next card passes said sensing device, means for completing a second circuit through said sensing device at said cyclic time, and means included in said second circuit for rendering the opening of said operating control circuit ineffective.

2. In a cyclically operable record card sorting machine, a record card sensing device, sorting means, means for feeding record cards past said. device in spaced succession, one card being fed for each cycle of operation of the machine, said sensing device being effective during the passing of cards thereby for controlling said sorting means, an operating control circuit for the machine, means timed to cyclically open said circuit after each card has passed said sensing device and before the next card passes said sensing device, means including said sensing device and operative at said cyclic time for testing whether a card is present at the sensing device,

and means controlled thereby when no card is present for rendering the opening of said operating control circuit ineffective.

3. In a cyclically operable record card sorting machine, a record card sensing device, means for feeding perforated record cards past said device in spaced succession, a sorting magnet, a control magnet, means for electrically connecting said sorting magnet to said sensing device as the card is passing the device and for electrically connecting the control magnet to said sensing device in the interval when no card is passing to said sensing device, an operating circuit for the machine, means for opening said circuit following each card sensing, and means controlled by said control magnet for rendering said opening ineffective or effective depending upon whether the control magnet is energized or not energized at the time of its connection to the sensing device.

4. In a cyclically operable sorting machine, a sorting brush, means for feeding record cards past the brushes in succession, a sorting magnet, a machine control circuit, devices for associating the brush with the sorting magnet during one part of each cycle of operation of the machine to control sorting of the cards, and means for associating the brush with the control circuit during another part of the cycle to cause continued operation or interrupt the operation in accordance with the relative position of the card and brush during such other part of the cycle.

EDWARD J. RABENDA. HAROLD J. KISTNER. 

